The Difference Between War and Peace
by Dharakfire
Summary: 6/6. Drabble series focusing on the after events of A Link Between Worlds. Ravio tells the tale of a kid he once knew. COMPLETE.
1. After

**Author's Note: **I recently just finished A Link Between Worlds. And I got inspired to write about the after events of the plot, and there is going to be a lot of fluff. There will be NO pairings, since I want this to be all about family and friends. In this Link and Zelda are about thirteen, tops. The beginning will be slight angst. Also this is a drabble series, so it's going to jump around after this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter I. After**

When they make it to Zelda's chambers, breathing becomes difficult.

There was a slight tinge of happiness, of excitement and hope, but it's overshadowed soon enough with pain, quick and sharp like glass-fangs.

His fingers move and grip tight the wounds that ripped its way into his skin, his blue eyes pale. Zelda escorts Link to a chair soon enough, and she spares him a sorrowful glance and a reluctant smile. He returns the smile back weakly.

"I need- I need to shut the wounds." Link mumbles. His fingers are shaky and his vision sways, but he does not care as he reaches for the needle and thread he has kept with him through his journey.

"Let me help." Zelda insists, resting her hand over his. "You can't do it by yourself.

"No, I've done this... Plenty of times before." Link says as he pushes her hands away.

Zelda snatches the needle and the thread from his fingertips, determination in her eyes. "I'll do it." She replies.

This time Link doesn't fight back.

* * *

As she expertly moves the needle through his flesh like she's practiced plenty before, Link has to cover his mouth from screaming in pain.

He's sewn his wounds shut many times, more than he can count throughout his journey. But he doesn't know why he wants to scream and cry out, so he bites into the flesh of his hand. It's not enough to cut his skin like a snake's bite, but it's enough to assault his nerves like thunder strikes.

"Relax," Zelda says, her voice reminding him of dove wings. Her eyes are downcast, but there is fire, dragon-fire, in them.

And Link tries to relax, tries to calm himself, tries to stop his fingers from shaking and his breaths to come in labored pants. "Breathe," He thinks, "Just breathe."

It feels like wind-screams, loud and demanding, and it's cold, cold as the needle passes through his skin over and over in an attempt to pull the flesh back together like it once was. He brings his fingers into fists and stares blankly at the ceiling.

When she's done, he's grateful, and despite the need to say thanks, he's tired, tired and sleepy. His eyes drift off and they close just as Zelda looks up.

He doesn't hear what she says next.

* * *

When Link wakes, he's vaguely aware of the breeze coming in from the window.

It takes awhile for him to regain his senses as he sits up slowly, the cloth easily pulling back and crinkling like parchment.

He yawns and stretches his arms- And then his eyes jerk open from their once half-closed phase as he realizes this was not his house and that the familiar sword and shield he carried were not laid by his side. It's a foreign feeling to be sleeping in a bed again as Link has traveled all over Hyrule, and Lorule just as well. But he knows he was in Zelda's room because he recognizes the organized order of everything and that subtle smell of roses.

The door creaks open just the slightest, yet loud enough for him to hear as his gaze jerks over to the door.

"Oh, you're awake." Zelda says as she walks in.

"Yeah," Link mumbles as he looks at his hands and his wrists, white grooves and lines marring his skin. He catches a hint of black thread but says nothing about it when he recalls the memories.

A small smile crosses her lips. "You can go home now, if you'd like."

"...It's over, right?"

Instantly she knew what he was talking about.

"Yeah. Welcome back to Hyrule, Link."


	2. Letter

Link returns to his dreams of being a blacksmith, and Zelda to her throne.

The sages, too, return to their once simple lifestyle before the descent of Yuga upon the land.

After the Master Sword, the blade whose hilt had become so entwined with his palm, had been returned back to its place in the Lost Woods, everything began to shape up. The fissures that once connected the kingdoms of day and night were shut and never again did Link hear from Lorule.

But everything was fine, and that was all that mattered.

Sometimes when the moon shows its face and the stars smile, he's leaning over his desk with candle-light flickering near him, drawing his shadow into the wall.

And it was there that Link would write his letters to Lorule, even though he knows he cannot send any of them. Questions troubled his mind about the fate of Lorule after the day he brought down Yuga and the day Zelda and he returned the Triforce of said world.

He remembers Hilda's forever-eyes, her stance of hope. He remembers Ravio's constant babbling, his humorous demeanor. Link wonders how they fare now, and how their kingdom was.

But there is no answer, and he is not shy of that as he scribbles across the parchment over and over.

* * *

"How do you think Lorule is doing, Zelda?" Link asks, looking over at her.

She laughs softly as she brushes a lock of hair over her ear. "I'm sure they are rebuilding their kingdom from the ruins that it once was. I can only imagine, though, what Lorule can only look like now."

He shifts, pulls his legs against his chest. "Beautiful," He says, "Like Hyrule. And... Hopeful."

"Beautiful indeed."

* * *

_(Sometimes when Hilda looks over her new kingdom, she cannot help but smile._

_The sun is foreign on her pale skin, but it's a welcoming feeling, different from the cloudy skies she was used to seeing, different from the thunder that screams. _

_The words, "_thank you_," lingers on her lips like summer, her eyes bright and hopeful than the dullness it was in the past. And Ravio stands besides her, wearing the garment that he once did long ago before he stowed away in the dawn of the night._

_He says all the things that she doesn't with a glimmer of excitement.)_

* * *

**Author's Note: **Feel free to tell me what you think guys ;w;


	3. Promise

The only heir to the throne.

The only princess to rule Hyrule at such a young age.

The only princess to become queen.

It's always frightened him, somehow, that Zelda is going to be queen and that when the time comes, she will be Queen and Link fears that something will change in their relationship.

He enjoyed her company as he would enjoy resting in bed after Gulley's father hammered more knowledge of what it takes to become a blacksmith into his mind. She's royalty and she is golden-eyed and beautiful, and she is his friend most of all.

Link does not know why he fears of her coronation in a few years, but he does, and ever since he thought about it, he cannot stop think about it like the white marks on his skin.

He does not speak to her about this.

* * *

"If Zelda becomes queen, then she will still be Zelda!" Gulley says in his childish voice, watching Link with huge eyes.

"Yeah, but what if she changes?" Link questions his young friend as he's practicing working with metal, sleeves rolled back and hair tucked.

"How am I supposed to know? I'm just nine." Gulley shrugs his soft hill-shoulders. "It's not like she'll turn into a pig. Get back to work before papa yells at you again."

And Link rolls his eyes as Gulley proceeds to pull that trick again to drag himself out of the conversating they were sharing.

Worry is present in his shaky hands still.

* * *

Relax is what he needed to do, but he does not find relaxation.

He tries various ways, from lying on the bed with eyes closed to simple walks in Hyrule (in which he may have wondered about Lorule just as well). But it does not work and he hates how his grip is fragile when he holds the hammer, unlike when he's held the hilt of the Master Sword in his hand.

It unnerves him and Zelda notices, he sees the interest spark in her eyes like a new flame being bestowed upon a candle. She only smiles and laughs- He does the same.

* * *

"What are you so worried about?" Zelda asks as she grabs his nervous fingers in her palms.

Link fidgets. He pauses and he shifts his gaze away. "Your... Your coronation. You know, when you become queen and wear that crown and you're all regal and-"

She slaps a hand over his mouth. He rambles when he's nervous. "Idiot," She huffs, "I may be queen one day but that isn't going to change anything."

"Nothing at all?" He muffles behind her hand.

"Nope. Only my title will but nothing else."

Silence.

He holds out his little finger. "Promise?"

She accepts the gesture. "Promise."


	4. Scars

When he isn't training to become a blacksmith, he's often over at Kakariko Village.

He spends his afternoons there, merely content to talk with the villagers, or run errands if need to be. Link's missed the simple life like this- Where he didn't have to dash here and there, a blade and shield always clutched in his fingertips.

Link rolls up his sleeves as he's yet to do another task. His eyes briefly catch the scars layering on his arms and he almost remembers the monsters with their punishing fangs and vicious eyes, almost remembers how he's had to choke back a scream. And for a few moments, there is nothing but those memories that howled in his inner mind.

And he forces himself to look away, pulls his sleeves back down as though he is ashamed and that the task he has done were not worthy to be called heroic. Link returns to his chore of fetching water from the well.

* * *

Always does Link hides his scars in his usual garbs, keeps his sleeves down and all that he could.

Sometimes it was unavoidable- When he's working yet again to master the craft of blacksmithing, he has to roll up his sleeves upon Gulley's father's insistence and he listens.

And sometimes Gulley is there, watching him, leaning over his shoulders with his young ambitions shining in his eyes.

"Hey," He calls out, "Since when did you have so many scars?"

Link says nothing, but Gulley grabs his arm and looks at each scar (Gulley is young and he does not remember much of his time as a sage, does not remember seeing so many rivers in Link's skin).

"Hello? Can you hear me?" Gulley waves a hand in front of his face.

"I'm not deaf." Link replies, prying Gulley's fingers from his arm. "Besides, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to hear how I got these."

"Yes I do!" Gulley responds. "Please? Please, come on, I won't tell anyone!"

A pause. "Monsters," Is all Link says as he returns back to his job and Gulley looks confused for a moment.

"Oh. There's nothing wrong with having scars, you know."

"Is that so?"

"Yup!"

* * *

**Author's Note: **This one is kind of bittersweet and it's also kind of short. I apologize. Please leave a review- I want to know what you think of this so far.


	5. Journey

Sleep is hard to come by the first few days after the battle with Yuga.

It's not because of the still-healing wounds that sting whenever he moves or touches them, but it's rather much focused on how he cannot sleep just thinking about the whole journey he had.

Link has saved Hyrule and Lorule. He has helped many across the lands of both kingdoms, he has fought so many monsters and dealt with so much pain. Being recognized as a hero was strange, yet it was familiar, in a way. He does not know why he is sleepless. He just is.

So sometimes, he sits outside on the steps leading to his house and shifts his gaze skywards. It's odd. How, in the expands of the universe, that he is the hero, the one chosen to save two kingdoms from their downfalls. But he does not mind this- Link is humble and he learns to merely accept his fate for what it has become.

When he thinks about his journey, he feels like he's made something out of it. He's met plenty of people- From the sages to Zelda, to Hilda in her reborn kingdom and Ravio, her servant and merchant all the same. And maybe, just maybe, he would think, that he was friends with all of them.

It's comforting, as Link watches the skies where the sun crept from darkness and the moon chase off shadows. He is ashamed of several things in his journey, but he is not ashamed of the people he's met and befriended.

* * *

As Link stands up, makes his way back to his house with foot-falls heavy like boulders and eyes glazed over like blue-tinted glass, he is not afraid to admit that his adventure wasn't that bad. He needed a change from the usual life he lead before, and regardless of the scars he's gained at such an age, he does not mind.

It's like wind- Crisp and fresh, cool and yet demanding and violent all the same time. He welcomes the changes he's seen, the changes he's caused. And it's amazing to him, because he could do so much by simply being somewhere.

And the stars remind him briefly of all the fun (and pain) that he's seen and experienced.


	6. Tale

**Author's Note: **I am sorry. But I will be abandoning this series because it doesn't interest anymore. Please tell me what you think. I want to improve and having a silent audience isn't going to help.

* * *

It takes time to repair the damage that has been wrought to Lorule.

After the return of the Triforce, the fissures that separated the once-torn kingdom were closing like thread to a wound. But even after this there is much to be done.

Ravio returns to service underneath Hilda once more like he did so many nights ago. It was difficult and it was time-consuming, but even then he feels compelled to help and try to improve the kingdom. He was a coward (or so he believe), but even then the fear that roots itself like weeds in his heart is not enough to break him.

He tells Hilda that he's going to be spending most of his time outside. When she questioned him with her crimson eyes and regal stance, his only response was, "I want to tell the people a story."

For a moment he sees a little bit of shock pass her face, before she chuckled. "Whatever you say, Ravio."

"Thank you, Hilda." (He never refers to her by 'princess' or 'majesty' anymore.)

When he departs, they share a brief goodbye with lingering eyes.

* * *

So he travels the land of the kingdom he once helped to save, in a way, wearing his familiar guise when he exchanged to Hyrule. Hood slightly pulled back and Sheerow perched neatly on his shoulders, he spread word to the people of the town.

He enters the tavern, sits himself down upon a wooden table. Everyone knows who he is- After all, he is a servant (and always a good friend) to Hilda. He takes in a staggering breath and looks briefly at Sheerow, who chirps softly.

And when he has gain the attention of the people, he says, "I would like to tell you a tale."

Silence.

"About a kid I used to know. I met him awhile back, but the kid was a real hero, I tell you! At first I thought he was a little too scrawny to be called a hero, but never mind that. Anyways, he was the one who saved this here kingdom..."


End file.
